I didn't realize that it had been so long since I had blogged (either here or on my personal blog). I should pay more attention to these things. I have just been crazy busy lately. I finally feel like I am starting to come up for air. That drowning feeling is starting to fade.
I was taking a biology class at the local community college to go toward my degree requirements. I am not a science person to begin with. I just don't like it. I don't care for it. It does not interest me. It never has. It probably never will. This class kicked my butt. I couldn't just take a standard term (16 weeks) class, I had to take the fast-track version of the course. Remember that these are completely online courses. . . everything right down to the labs are done online. No in-classroom time at all, the online forum is the classroom. I am pretty bright. I do well even in things that I don't always get and certainly don't always like. I figured "what the heck, it is only 8 weeks of torture and then I am done with it." So in I went. Oh boy! That was a very fast paced 8 weeks. That is a LOT of information to cover in 8 weeks. It was constantly biology. Nevermind that I also had another class on top of this one. . . it was all about biology during these 8 weeks. Lots of reading. Lots of reading that is going over my head. Lots of work. Let us not forget that group research paper complete with power point presentation. UGH! TORTURE! The sad part is that I really miss the class now that it has been out for a couple of weeks. I don't miss the intense coursework and studying, but I do miss the online course experience. Of all of my online courses, this has been the absolute BEST class in the "experience" department. The professor really made an effort and encouraged to not only think outside the box, but to learn about ourselves and our interactions with others. This was the most interactive class I have ever been in and it was also the best in the experience department. No, I didn't learn everything biology I should probably know, but I did learn a lot and I had a fun time doing it. Thanks Mr. Boyle! For what it is worth, I got a B in the course! I was so stinking close to the A that it wasn't funny, but alas I didn't quite make it. Getting the B stings the GPA a bit, but I'm sure I'll recover fairly quickly.
I have been working around the clock. . . well, it feels like that after spending 8 hours in front of a computer doing nothing but. . . working on capturing and editing karate tournament videos for
Texas Sport Karate News. This is a lot of work. I am several tournaments behind. Everyone is being patient. I am probably less patient with myself. I am just overwhelmed and it is a lot to get caught up. My goal is to be caught up by Super Grands (usually Thanksgiving weekend). Today I finished all of the Acapulco tournament. It looks like I will finish all of the Ocean Nationals tournament as well. Then I'll be onto the others I haven't done yet. It is a lot of work.
We won't forget my own web design company,
Inventive Site Strategies, Inc. We've had another client job done. I liked it. It was a nice change from the past several we have had. I am now waiting for the next one. . . I am not sure when that will be. Of course, there is always the
Texas Sport Karate News. . .
I am desperately trying to finish some more digital kits. I haven't fulfilled my duties at
The Daily Scrap in a couple of months. I am just so far behind in everything. Getting sick and getting behind and crazy busy are not a good combination. I do not recommend it. I have found that designing takes a lot of time I don't really have. I just have so much going on that finding time to sit and just design is very hard. I really need to make it a priority, but so many other things demand my time too. I am hoping that things improve a little bit in the next few weeks. I currently have started and almost ready for release: 4 full kits and 1 alpha (3 colors). In the works are 3 paper packs. I am not sure where I will go from there.
Does the feeling of inadequacy ever go away? I sit down to try and put the final touches on these kits (mentioned above) and I just sit and wonder if they are really good enough. Are they? I don't know. I worry constantly that they aren't ready for release. I worry that I don't get a file exported correctly or at the wrong resolution (this has happened, but is fixable). I worry that people just won't like it. Worry. Worry. Worry. Does that stop? How long do you have to be doing this before the feeling goes away?
I will be gathering together a Creative Team soon. I know that at least one member is estatic! I am not entirely sure who else will be on the team yet, but I am working on gathering together a list of names to personally ask them. Once the above mentioned kits are available to the public, my Creative Team will be announced. I am working on a "designer" logo and blinkies right now. This is proving to be a lot harder to come up with than I thought it would.
I will update again soon. . .
